The right to water in a globalized world

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2012-08-31 L’Osservatore Romano

Water and the challenges connected to it are once again the focus of attention. In fact, World Water Week, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), is taking place in Sweden in these days on the theme “Water and Food Security”. About 2,000 people – managers, politicians, experts and representatives of various organization – are gathered in the Swedish capital to take part in the 2012 World Water Week, being held from 26 to 31 August, which was launched in 1991.

This World Week is an important event. Carried ahead, one year after another, by one of the institutes of which Sweden is justifiably proud, it has become almost an obligatory event for water technicians and experts. And the current topics being studied in Stockholm are relevant and complementary: they are technical, such as urbanization and climate change; and social, such as education and community awareness, as well as waste; and institutional, such as decision-making processes and the formulation of future goals for development. It is to be hoped that the technicians and experts – who influence state policies and decisions in various ways – will be able to work without weakening the resources and will give an effective impetus in the best possible way to the issue of water in a global context, in a context of changes, in a world that stands in need of good governance for water.

Tebaldo Vinciguerra, Official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace